HALIAETUS LEUCOCEPHALUS, BALD EAGLE. 369 



Although more particularly a species of boreal and alpine distribu- 

 tion, the Golden Eagle has an extensive dispersion in this country, 

 greater than appears to be generally known, or, at least, recognized. It 

 is of not infrequent and apparently regular occurrence in winter as far 

 south, at least, as Washington, D. 0., where, for several years, a speci- 

 men was taken almost every season, as already stated by Dr. Prentiss 

 and myself. Several individuals, procured in the Washington market, 

 are now in the Museum of the Smithsonian. Prof. Snow records its 

 capture near Lawrence, Kansas, in January. Dr. Henry procured it at 

 Fort Thorn, New Mexico, and I saw it in the mountains of Arizona. 

 Mr. Allen observed it in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah ; and in Cali- 

 fornia Dr. Cooper states that it is common in most parts of the State 

 during the colder months. An account of its breeding on the Upper 

 Missouri is given by Nuttall' 



Dr. Brewer gives it as breeding in the mountainous portions of Maine, 

 New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, particularly instancing a 

 nest at Franconia, New Hampshire, which was resorted to for several 

 successive years. But its nidiflcation is usually in such inaccessible 

 situations, even when not in the most remote and uninhabitable regions, 

 that its eggs were for a long time special desiderata. Even in 1857 

 Dr. Brewer had no American specimens for description. I have, there- 

 fore, more pleasure in describing them, from no less than a dozen exam- 

 ples now in the Smithsonian, where, through the liberality marking the 

 attitude of that institution toward students of science, I have been able 

 to examine them. The eggs are almost spherical, the degree of prola- 

 tion being slight, and there being usually no appreciable difference in 

 the shape of the opposite ends. Four selected specimens measure, re- 

 spectively, 2.65 by 2.16; 2.90 by 2.40; 3.00 by 2.35; 3.10 by 2.25— figures 

 illustrating both the difference in absolute size and the variation in 

 shape. None are so large as the one said by Audubon to have been 

 3.50 by 2.50 ; but I can readily believe that such dimensions are some- 

 times reached. Among the twelve, only one is white and unmarked ; 

 this closely resembles a Bald Eagle's. The rest are whitish (white, 

 shaded just perceptibly with neutral tint), variously spotted and 

 splashed, without the slightest approach to uniformity in the size, num- 

 ber, or pattern of the markings. The color ranges from " bloody-brown" 

 or rich sienna, to bistre and umber. There are many other spots, more 

 or less obscure, and all apparently below the surface, showing grayish, 

 drab, purplish, and neutral tint, by overlaying of the whitish cal- 

 careous matter in different thicknesses. Most of the markings are 

 sharp-edged and distinct, but others shade off gradually, while many 

 are confluent, making irregular patches. As a rule they are pretty 

 evenly distributed, but in some specimens are chiefly gathered about 

 one or the other end, where the coloration consequently becomes con- 

 tinuous. 



^HALIAETUS LEUCOCEPHALUS, (Linn.) Sav. y 



White-heatlea Eagle; Bald Eagle. 



Aguila leucoceplialos, Briss., Oru. i. 1760, 423.— Vieill., Ois. Am. Sept. pi. 3.— Pall., Zoog. 

 E. A. i, 1811, 347.— Sw., Clasaif. B. ii, 1837, 207.— Selys-L., Fn. Belg. 53. 



Falco leueoceplialus, LiNisr., Syst. Nat. i, 1766, 124 {Aquila eapite alho, Cates., i, p. 1, pi. 

 1; Aquila leiwocq>halos, Briss., i, 423; Aigle d, tete Manclie, P. E. 411). — Gm., 

 Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 255.— Lath., Ind. Oru. i, 1790, 11.— Shaw, G. Z. vii, 78.— Wils., 

 Am. Orn. iv, 1812, 89, pi. 36, fig. -.— Bp., Syn. 1828, 26 ; lais, 1832, 1136.— Nutt., 

 Man i, 1832, 72.— Green, Am. Journ. Sci. iv, 89.— Aud., Orn. Biog. i, 1832, 160; 

 ii, 1834, 160 ; v, 1839, 354 ; pis. 31, 126. -Brew., ed. Wils. 1840, 683. 

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